Sri Lanka rejects ceasefire with LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2008, 11:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's government rejected a ceasefire with the LTTE on Monday, again demanding the Tigers surrender or be destroyed. "The government will not go for a ceasefire with the LTTE. We will not have any form of discussion with the LTTE. We have already told them to lay down arms and there is no change in our stand," Agriculture Minister Maithripala Sirisena told Parliament, Reuters reported.

The government was responding to comments by the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. B. Nadesan, over the weekend.

“There is no hesitation on our side to reiterate our position that we have always wanted a ceasefire," he told TamilNet on Saturday.

“It is the Sri Lankan government that unilaterally abrogated the [2002 Norwegian brokered] ceasefire,” Mr. Nadesan said and added that the Tigers were only fighting a defensive war since Colombo has thrust upon Tamils an aggressive war.

Meanwhile Sri Lankan Minister and government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that every time the Tigers "get weakened militarily, they call for a cease-fire and within the process, they get strengthened."

“The Mahinda Rajapaksa government was not ready to let down the countrymen by way of falling into the LTTE trap,” the Minister added.

The LTTE "should lay down arms before any negotiations," he said.

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